Skinny Puppy: Classic or Dud?

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Interstingly enough, "Deep Down Trauma Hounds" is the only song from their middle era that I really love. Others, like "Testure" and "Dig It", I tolerate, but only in a live or remixed recording.

It is FRIGHTENING how great a song "Warlock" is. I must listen to it NOW.

― Dan Perry, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two months pass...

I enjoyed the Process a lot because of Dwaynes synth work on Morter and Amnesia, it's so trippy. And I thought Hardset Head was incredible. Bites, ViviSectVI, and Last Rights are personall faves. People argue about Last Rights but I get so much meaning from Knowhere? and Mirrorsaw. That is some of their HEAVIEST recordings. Now Im not a big fan of Rabies except for Worlock, Rodent, and Tin Omen. I think that Dwaynes synths lacked a lot in the other tracks.

― Kris Day, Sunday, 9 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

nine months pass...

...17 years later (and one year later from the above banter), the music & lyric of skinny puppy still holds timeless qualities with occasional prophetic overtones. Yes, while they had "creepy" all wrapped up and ready to go in varying degrees of severity, the most sinister aspects of a song could be punctuated with the silliest of sample or antic to achieve a tongue-in-cheek contrast in attitude. Intertwining contradictory contrasting elements aplenty often made them a most disorienting aural and visual experience. Though they had the rare ability of prying emotions out of you...disturbing emotions I hadn't a name for, I found them to be therapeutically inspiring, and at times I was almost on the floor laughing at their live shows (esp. '86, '87 & '88). Although this music was electronically driven, it possessed a strong essence from centuries past.

For those who had trouble with a particular cd, clear your mind of any false expectations, go back to it and take another serious listen. Usually by 11th listen: you will find in what was once considered "unlistenable", a certain gratification (unlike any) that will hit you unexpectedly and bring with it unbelievable staying power.

Here, was truly an addictive brand of sonic seduction (in my book)... one that ferments quite nicely!

― Sarah P., Monday, 30 September 2002 15:08 (twenty-three years ago)

I have to admit that I have long loved the Pup, but the only thing that I can really think to add to this thread right now is the fact that I think it's totally classic that our pal cEVIN used to be in the ultra-new wavey Images In Vogue. The photos of him on the album sleeves are even more classic: a bunch of pretty-boy heavily made up new wavesters with this guy skulking in the background, also heavily made up but with this menacing glare that made you think he was about to eat the other members alive. That's our cEVIN!

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 30 September 2002 15:16 (twenty-three years ago)

sean: even back then, I think our cEVIN knew just the type of sounds he really wanted to do - and he gave them to us...right up the jaxi!!!

― sarah p, Monday, 30 September 2002 18:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Sean, I did go find those two Images In Vogue AMG reviews. Yay! No photos, but still - finally!

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 30 September 2002 20:58 (twenty-three years ago)

I'll see if I can scan 'em in for you. They're CLASSIC.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 30 September 2002 21:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Okay, kids! Time to play the SPOT THE FUTURE MEMBER OF SKINNY PUPPY GAME!

http://www.armchair.mb.ca/~oneiros/pix/iiv-1.jpg http://www.armchair.mb.ca/~oneiros/pix/iiv-2.jpg

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 30 September 2002 22:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Dan is right about Bites. It's all about "Love"

― Steph (Steph), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 00:05 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually, I do have something to add. Dan, you're insane: without a doubt VI VI sect VI is my favourite Puppy album, and I loved Bites and Remission. I think it's where the band really matured, where they were finally able to work with rhythms without blotting out the melody (ala Mind), where the samples were both interesting and relevant (on earlier albums they seemed to be selected mostly because they were weird and not necessarily because they had anything to do with the track). I'd say it's also where they proved they could be really melodic and atmospheric but obv. "Love" proved that earlier. And I really think that people who love Rabies really love it because it's Ministry.

By the way, VI VI sect VI had the BEST LONGBOX EVAH.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 00:15 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm with Sean: Vivi sect VI is great.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 00:30 (twenty-three years ago)

! ! I think I'm going to print those out and use them as this year's Xmas wrap.

― Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 02:21 (twenty-three years ago)

...ever notice at that particular point in any & all versions of 'inquisition', you think you hear your phone ringing?...

― sarah p, Tuesday, 1 October 2002 18:59 (twenty-three years ago)

You know the part!! ...where it sounds like Satan flushing his toilet.

― Sarah P, Tuesday, 1 October 2002 22:21 (twenty-three years ago)

three months pass...

is this thread still going?

― moogy, Thursday, 23 January 2003 23:45 (twenty-three years ago)

It should be.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 23 January 2003 23:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I can't listen to Skinny Puppy. This is fairly rare for me, that music has such strong emotional resonance that it's just kinda too painful to listen to. My college roommate during my sophomore year was a *huge* Skinny Puppy fan - the complete discography, posters, the whole bit. I had only been marginally aware of them previously. But my roomie was a total asshole - screwing his girlfriend while I was there, bouncing into the room on mushrooms at 3am and blasting the Puppy at insane volumes while I was trying to sleep, stealing his friends credit cards, losing my stuff, destroying my music, etc. I grew to hate the band just because I hated him so much.

A year later he was drunk and diving in a river in Virginia and he died cracking his head on the river bottom - he was by himself, so when he hit the bottom, he was knocked out and he drowned.

So now when I hear Skinny Puppy it's nothing but bad associations. Kinda neat audio-collage technique they developed tho, I guess.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 24 January 2003 00:08 (twenty-three years ago)

ok Dan, let's go...

...and don't forget "deadlines" (that torrid guitar)!

― sarah, Tuesday, 4 February 2003 00:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Okay, I'm bringing Puppy albums to work tomorrow. I MUST HEAR THEM.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 15:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Last Rights is in my top ten albums of all time. In it, they dropped most of their cheesy gothness and achieved a unique, quasi-organic/chaotic sound which I really like (and can't describe well). Although, I still like them when they're being cheesy goths.

― fletrejet, Tuesday, 4 February 2003 16:34 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think I could put any one SP cd in a top 10 list. There are tracks of each that knock me out. "Cheesy goth" isn't a description I'd give to SP's older material. "Cheesy goth" might be a more appropriate description for Tear Garden's "Tired Eyes Slowly Burning", which had crap on it that I have the grestest fondness for. I think what makes SP's material so enigmatic was its contrasts and contradictions...and strange how their material I used to categorize as "unlistenable" (white noisy and obnoxious), ended up being my most off the wall favorites: "punk in park zoo's", "mirror saw(dub)", "scrapyard", "brak talk", and "bark".

― sarah p, Tuesday, 4 February 2003 23:47 (twenty-three years ago)

I need to relisten to their mid-period stuff, I think. That's when I lost touch with what they were doing and just didn't connect with them; I bet things would be different now. (Then again, I spent much of today play "The Call" by The Backstreet Boys on repeat, so maybe 80s industrial will be too jarring for my brain tomorrow, heh.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 23:51 (twenty-three years ago)

I hear that the Pup were a huge influence on the Backstreet Boys, Dan.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 00:13 (twenty-three years ago)

By "cheesy goth" I meant "excessive horror movie sampling" pretty much. They are still holding at #2 for the most sampling band, pretty good for a defunct one. http://www.sloth.org/samples-bin/samples/group?summary

Although, I too thought Last Rights was unlistenable for a year after I bought it until I final saw the light (and it was dark).

― fletrejet, Wednesday, 5 February 2003 01:21 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember it came out (Last Rights that is) right around the time I had my first and so far only extended real bout of fear about the fate of the world, on an environmental level, at least. It was the perfect and horrifying soundtrack to same.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 01:32 (twenty-three years ago)

i used to be last rights
but now i'm vivisectvi
classic

― dyson (dyson), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 06:51 (twenty-three years ago)

When "last rights" was released, I could only listen to the non-ogre track - those being too intensely charged, too gutwrenching. It was only a few years ago I could delve into that cd & appreciate it as a whole piece...and a monumental piece it is!

Ah, but don't forget, we have more "cheese" to look forward to: Live Braps & outakes (84 to '92)to be out soon...

― sarah p, Wednesday, 5 February 2003 21:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The urban legend goes that Ogre ODed or had some kind of drug complication while recording "Knowhere?" and the sounds of it ended up on the final release. Not true, but Ogre does give his finest vocal performances on "Last Rights"

― fletrejet, Wednesday, 5 February 2003 22:22 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah, he supposedly went into a convulsion during that recording, at the end...true or not, who knows.

But I always thought "love in vein" on Back & Forth Vol.4 was somehow far more gutwrenching than the "last rights" version. I dunno, something about that one has the darkest warp to me.

― sarah p, Wednesday, 5 February 2003 22:57 (twenty-three years ago)

skinny puppy is great!

vivisect vi, bites, and rabies are my favorites i think.

i swear... mark my words... in my next few years, if we haven't started seeing it already as electro clash folds over itself... etc etc... skinny puppy and the like will become references for new underground bands... (if they already secretly aren't...)

there's too much to mine and shove off of...
m.

― msp, Thursday, 6 February 2003 18:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I seem to recall the moment SP hit the circuit, other acts almost instantly borrowed off their sounds and images, taking it to their own extremes - some did it well and cashed in (we know who they are), and others tried and failed miserably. So I think we've already seen its influences played out ...unless it gets extremely hybridized into ultra ultra "bubblegum" industrial. But I think that's already happened too. What next?

― sarah p, Friday, 7 February 2003 17:09 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Revive. I'm reviewing Brap and Ain't It Dead Yet for the AMG, and listening to the early demos on Brap shows how well they had already figured out the basics for mood and capturing the ear early on, while the later tracks showed just how brilliantly they could fuck with the formula -- the alternate arrangement of "Knowhere?" that's "Uranus Cancelled," the stumbling drum collage/murk on "All Eyes"...

(This is also an interesting thread in that I didn't expect to see contributions from Ally and Gareth when I reread it!)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 18 April 2004 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic! Inconsistent and hit-or-miss sometimes, but when they were good they were great.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 19 April 2004 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, Dan Perry, the world is so small...

― Super-Kate (kate), Saturday, 1 May 2004 06:24 (twenty-two years ago)

'Dig It' was funky funky funky.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Saturday, 1 May 2004 07:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Nah, Kate, it is small, but not as small as you think. I only know -of- Dan by his enthusiasm for SP by doing a search yesterday. His name kept popping up! :)

But hey, if anyone was upset about missing them live, they will get a chance very soon. They are touring extensively this year, first with a warm-up mini-tour in the U.S. in June (dates are still being announced), then Europe in July (dates also still being announced) and then a much larger tour of North America in late summer and the fall (no dates announced yet.) Whether you like the new album or not (release date: May 24th/25th), it would still be worth going to see them live. At least I think so. But I'm biased. ;)

― kaliflwr (kaliflwr), Saturday, 1 May 2004 11:58 (twenty-two years ago)

But by that logic you have to go see the Cure as well! ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 1 May 2004 13:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Only if The Cure play somewhere smaller than Madison Square Garden will I go. Been there, done that, was very angry afterward. But if the rumors are true and they really are playing with Mogwai and Interpol, well, it will be hard to resist. :) I would love to see them at Radio City Music Hall again, but I have no idea of the kinds of places they can fill in the States anymore.

At least at a Puppy show I know I can stand up front and run the risk of getting non-descript bits of goop (and gods know what else) flung in my direction. Hey, this is appealing to some folks!

― kaliflwr (kaliflwr), Saturday, 1 May 2004 14:35 (twenty-two years ago)

some roommates of mine roadtripped and followed skinny puppy through part of their too dark park tour. they brought "puppy guts" in baby food jars back with them as souvenirs. classic.

― tricky disco, Saturday, 1 May 2004 18:50 (twenty-two years ago)

i saw down|aod |ive and they did a coup|e sp tracks. cevin key is just so fan-fucking-tastic to see |ive i think i'd rea||y enjoy the chance to see him again.

― dyson (dyson), Saturday, 1 May 2004 22:09 (twenty-two years ago)

OH MY I really have to see if/when they're coming to Boston. HOORAY BEING THE AGING CREEPY GUY AT A SHOW.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 1 May 2004 22:30 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm fairly sure 99.9% of attendees will fall into that category¡

― dyson (dyson), Saturday, 1 May 2004 23:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Nothing for Boston, yet, or NYC (where I'm anxiously waiting) for that matter.

While I think there's a good chance that a Boston date will be added soon, If they don't show up for the warm-up tour, they most definitely will hit it on the return trip. Rumor is that they are doing 20 dates on this side of the Atlantic before heading to Europe. They've only announced six shows in the States so far:

Portland- Roseland Theater June 11th
Seattle- Showbox June 12th
Chicago- Vic Theater June 15th and 16th (16th is sold out)
Philadelphia- Electric Factory June 23rd
Atlanta- Masquerade June 25th

― kaliflwr (kaliflwr), Saturday, 1 May 2004 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

no canadian dates, wtf¿ they're only from here for christsakes¡

― dyson (dyson), Saturday, 1 May 2004 23:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Clear Channel (eww) is listing a Boston date now:

http://cc.com/event_detail.html?eventID=201842

Boston- Avalon June 19th

Tickets go on sale May 7th at 10am.

― kaliflwr (kaliflwr), Monday, 3 May 2004 19:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I have never been happier about receiving my income tax return than I am right now.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 3 May 2004 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

What are you going to do, buy out the venue and have them put on a private performance while you sit there smoking a cigar on a lounge chair and drinking champagne?

(Which I think you should do, of course.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 3 May 2004 19:55 (twenty-two years ago)

DC date announced according to SPV's newsletter:

DC- 930 Club June 22nd

Oh, and I'll list the dates announced so far in Europe too:

Paris- La Locomotive July 11th
Amsterdam- Paradiso July 13th
Sweden- Arvika Festival July 15th
Germany- Zillo Festival July 17th
Belgium- Dour Festival July 18th
London- The Forum July 19th

Well at least I have some idea of what week they'll be in NYC, if not the actual day.

― kaliflwr (kaliflwr), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Full update of US tour so far as per SPV:

Fri June 11, 2004 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
Sat June 12, 2004 Seattle, WA Showbox
Tue June 15, 2004 Chicago, IL Vic Theater
Wed June 16, 2004 Chicago, IL Vic Theater
Thu June 17, 2004 Detroit, MI TBA
Sat June 19, 2004 Boston, MA Avalon Ballroom
Sun June 20, 2004 New York, NY Irving Plaza (YES!!!)
Mon June 21, 2004 New York, NY Irving Plaza (double YES!!!)
Tue June 22, 2004 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
Wed June 23, 2004 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
Fri June 25, 2004 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
Sat June 26, 2004 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
Sun June 27, 2004 Houston, TX Club V
Tue June 29, 2004 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
Thu July 1, 2004 San Francisco, CA Grand Ballroom
Fri July 2, 2004 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
Sun July 4, 2004 Anaheim, CA The Grove of Anaheim

― kaliflwr (kaliflwr), Thursday, 6 May 2004 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

I'll actually be in town. Hmm....

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 6 May 2004 15:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 138 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ldM6DQ24bA

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 21:22 (five years ago)

Good taste!
Ooh, he got good taste!

― stirmonster, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 22:26 (five years ago)

one month passes...

.@cEvinKey of @skinnypuppy_ changed his album title from "Xwayxway" to "Resonance."

The album is inspired by an Indigenous village located in Vancouver but some objected to Xwayxway as a title. Out of respect for them, he changed the title.

That's how you be an ally. pic.twitter.com/KZKmUxZl6r
— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) January 19, 2021

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 21:44 (five years ago)

one year passes...

Getting into Vivisectvi. Is this band getting more credit now with the trend of cyberpunk music and aesthetics? Feel like there's an opputunity for lots of new fans at this moment

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 15 October 2022 16:29 (three years ago)

I’ve maintained that classic SP’s evaluation outside of old goth heads has been due for a long time. It’s time for the kids to make it happen already.

― circa1916, Saturday, 15 October 2022 23:18 (three years ago)

They’re pretty deep down in that industrial niche. Once the hip kids make their way through Psychic TV, Einstürzende Neubauten, and EDM, then they’ll be ready.

― recovering internet addict/shitposter (viborg), Sunday, 16 October 2022 02:27 (three years ago)

Fuck fuck fuck abort. You know what I meant.

― recovering internet addict/shitposter (viborg), Sunday, 16 October 2022 02:28 (three years ago)

Skinny Puppy were upper echelon of the niche, hardly buried.

EB and Psychic TV have had cool cred forever and occupy an adjacent, but different sphere.

― circa1916, Sunday, 16 October 2022 03:26 (three years ago)

Similarly messing up acronyms over here haha.

― circa1916, Sunday, 16 October 2022 03:29 (three years ago)

four months pass...

Vivisectvi is really good but I don't think the bonus tracks/EP at the end of CD copies was a good idea, the tracks are fine and there's some albums I love having the bonus tracks (lots of 4AD EPs at the end of albums) but it didn't work for me this time. Clips from films seem to bother me when I know what the film is, I find it a little distracting at times.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 February 2023 21:13 (three years ago)

i had never heard Funguss before (the other 2 bonus tracks are 12" b-sides). i dig it.

i've been listening to The Centre Bullet again lots recently and it seems amazing to me it was only ever a CD bonus track, although of course it has a second life as a Tear Garden song too.

― stirmonster, Monday, 27 February 2023 21:28 (three years ago)

one month passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRdbFMZghH8

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 8 April 2023 18:18 (three years ago)

eight months pass...

They're done, having just completed a four-night stand in L.A. Interesting separate interviews with Ogre and Key.

― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Friday, 8 December 2023 05:38 (two years ago)

Full respect, wish I had made the journey to see the tour. They stand near Bauhaus for me in the echoing influence of oppressive darkness always taken one step further. I think Too Dark Park was the peak. Am also a HUGE stan for the Hilt side project. I have more minutes listening to Hilt than SP I think...

― Psychocandy Apple Grey (Pyschocandles), Friday, 8 December 2023 07:17 (two years ago)

seven months pass...

Deej got me onto the Doubting Thomas album and omg it's so good? Like how did I not know about this prior.

― Tim F, Tuesday, 9 July 2024 01:00 (one year ago)

Better late than never!

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 9 July 2024 01:40 (one year ago)

fucked up that i've never heard this before either

― ivy., Tuesday, 9 July 2024 01:58 (one year ago)

You terrible person or something

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 9 July 2024 02:07 (one year ago)

I got given that as a youngish teenager (who was mostly in to fairly mundane stuff) by my uncle who used to tour with them and it kind of altered how I saw music. Haven't heard it in years tho

― husked, tonal wails (irrational), Tuesday, 9 July 2024 14:02 (one year ago)

Half of my answering machine messages from my freshman year of college were recordings of various Doubting Thomas songs.

― Methuselah/Van Winkle ‘24 (DJP), Tuesday, 9 July 2024 19:02 (one year ago)

my taste the last three years has shifted to 'djp's taste in 1992' to a dramatic degree

― xheugy eddy (D-40), Tuesday, 9 July 2024 19:06 (one year ago)

Take some Dan and some Ned and you mix em up in a pot / Sprinkle a little stirmonster on top

― xheugy eddy (D-40), Tuesday, 9 July 2024 19:07 (one year ago)

damn never even heard of this before, sandwiched between two great SP albums even

― brimstead, Tuesday, 9 July 2024 19:19 (one year ago)

xpost A fine approach, even if I am biased by default.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 9 July 2024 19:35 (one year ago)

I'm convinced Dwayne Goettel was the Cliff Burton of Skinny Puppy.

― beard papa, Tuesday, 9 July 2024 19:37 (one year ago)

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